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year of kindness challenge: week 36

Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? It was H-O-T here in Danville … you can bet I’ve been drinking a ton of smoothies and iced tea! This weekend I went with my grandparents to see Eugene O’Neill’s play “Anna Christie” and it was fantastic! The actors were so talented and the writing was superb. It was very inspiring to me, as I’ve lately been working on a full-length play of my own.

Even though it still feels like summer, since it is now officially September and football season has begun and the pumpkin-flavored drinks are back at Starbucks, on Saturday I decided to bake my first pumpkin pie! It turned out great {much better than my disastrous pie that longtime blog readers might remember from last autumn, haha.} I also had a lovely lunch at CPK with my aunt and cousin, and yesterday I went to another cousin’s soccer game — she scored two goals! I was bursting with pride. It’s such a blessing to get to spend lots of time with my extended family.

This past week’s kindness challenge was to compliment a salesman to his or her manager. I went shopping at Whole Foods for the first time {after reading for months now about how amazing WF is on Robyn’s lovely blog The Real Life RD} and a very nice saleswoman helped me find coconut flour. When I told her it was my first time shopping at Whole Foods and that I’ve recently started going gluten-free, she also helpfully pointed out other gluten-free products. So I made sure to catch her name, and before I left I spoke to the manager about how wonderful she was. It took all of two minutes, and it certainly gave my day a boost!

That simple act of kindness also made me think about how often the feedback we give to others, especially in corporate or business situations, is negative. I think most of us are more likely to go through the trouble of contacting a company with a complaint or write a product review warning others not to purchase the product than we are to give compliments or positive reviews. So, the Week 36 Kindness Challenge is to fill out a feedback form with five star ratings, write a positive review of a book or product you love, or even call that “How am I driving?” phone number on the back of a semi-truck and rave about the truck driver’s wonderful driving skills.

Here’s a related quote that my dad sent to me that I absolutely love:

“You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world’s happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.” — Dale Carnegie

As always, blog about your experiences and include your links in the comments section below, or feel free to send me an email at dallaswoodburn <AT> gmail <DOT> com.